In 2018, I was searching for abortion clinics near me when I found Support Circle. My best friend and I had recently moved to the area to begin school at Notre Dame de Namur. I was so busy starting college that I didn’t realize I had missed my period.

My high school sweetheart and I had gone to colleges on opposite coasts. We vowed to be faithful to each other and to focus on our education, not on partying or dating other people. At first, we kept in touch with FaceTime on our iPhones and with texts and phone calls. But the FaceTime had stopped after the first week and the texts from him stopped soon after. I could see him partying on Insta and that’s how I found out about his new girlfriend. It was when I checked my calendar trying to figure out when he had started dating her that I realized I had not had a period since moving to the Bay Area.

I raced to Walgreens pharmacy to get a pregnancy test. Just in case, I got the two-test pack. Positive. Both of them. I didn’t know what to do. When my roommate came home that night, I told her. She knew exactly what to do. She said she had used the abortion pill a year before and told me I needed to Google abortion clinics near me to find a place to get the abortion pill. So, I did. And that’s when I found Support Circle.

Well, first I found a couple of abortion clinics but they were either closed permanently or I couldn’t get an appointment right away. I was going out of my mind. I was pregnant! I was so confused. I had just started college. I was so scared to tell my boyfriend – my ex-boyfriend? He still hadn’t admitted to me that he was dating the girl on his Insta. I needed to talk to someone immediately. And I needed the abortion pill yesterday!

The nurse at Support Circle confirmed that I was pregnant with a pregnancy test. She told me that, based on the information I gave her, I was approximately 10 weeks pregnant. To verify this, she did an ultrasound. With measurements from the ultrasound, she dated the pregnancy at 11 weeks. When she told me I was too far along for the abortion pill, I panicked inside. I looked at the screen that I had been avoiding and could clearly see my baby’s heart beating and he moved around a lot. I was fascinated by what I saw on the screen and began to tear up. There was no way I could have an abortion.

I was lost. I didn’t know what to do. I had so many questions. How would I care for a child? Would I be able to finish college? Where would I live? So many more questions. Over the next few weeks, my patient advocate listened and helped me find the resources I needed to be able to do this parenting thing on my own. I don’t know what I would have done without her help.

Support Circle has my vote! Call or visit Support Circle if you are pregnant and need a pregnancy ultrasound or to confirm your pregnancy. Instead of finding an abortion clinic near me, I found the support and help I needed to make my best decision.